Prior to the Great War, poems, ballads and stories of conflict told of glory, patriotism and courage in battle. But, after the initial dreams of heroic deeds, those that wrote of the First World War were soon to express other sentiments. The war that raged between 1914 and 1918 was the first truly mechanized war, in which thousands of lives could be lost in one day; it was the first to impose conscription, transporting inexperienced young men straight to the front line; it was the first war to be reported in all its horror, with photographs and news reels, to those at home. As the war progressed, poets of all nationalities put their experiences into verse. Their many sentiments are reflected in this illustrated anthology, including poets such as Edward Thomes, Alan Seeger, John McCrae, Harold Gilman, Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer and C R W Nevinson. This book sets the written and the visual records side by side: together the peoms and paintings speak for themselves, and for those who fought and died.